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Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Beldar on Palin's announcement
On June 8, 2008 — months before John McCain surprised the world with his vice presidential nominee — I was writing about then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a potentially transformative choice for that position. No one, however, predicted how much of a national lightning rod she would become. I was disappointed in her decision to resign from her governorship after the 2008 election, but I was neither surprised nor disappointed at Gov. Palin's announcement today that she definitely will not be a candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
I am also sure that Gov. Palin is aware that Mark Begich — the former Anchorage mayor who snuck into the U.S. Senate on Obama's coattails in 2008 — is up for reelection in 2014. If Gov. Palin wishes to become a political candidate again (as opposed to a pundit and speaker), Begich's seat would be her next logical target.
Posted by Beldar at 06:35 PM in 2008 Election, McCain, Palin, Politics (2011) | Permalink
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Comments
(1) Leon Dixon made the following comment | Oct 5, 2011 7:00:47 PM | Permalink
I would guess that becoming a Senator would be doable but as a political animal this lady is sui generis, that is, very accomplished. I missed your early opinings but do recollect a Human Events article that touted her long before anyone had heard of her on the national scene. An 80% approval rating for anyone is almost unheard of.
She will help her kind of person get elected and one must recall that putting Republican crooks in jail is part of her persona and what drives some of those folks who oppose her. A Palin Justice Department is not desired by a large number of crooks.
(2) Milhouse made the following comment | Oct 5, 2011 7:23:09 PM | Permalink
I am disappointed, but it is what it is. Perry in 2012, and Palin in 2020.
(3) DRJ made the following comment | Oct 5, 2011 10:56:35 PM | Permalink
I'd love to see Palin in the Senate. Think of the press conferences, Sunday news shows, committee hearings and Senate floor speeches she could give! But seeing Palin in a Republican President's Cabinet would be excellent, too.
(4) Beldar made the following comment | Oct 6, 2011 12:27:06 AM | Permalink
DRJ, one reason I think a senate seat would be the best choice for her is that she already has executive experience, but not legislative or foreign policy experience. She could angle for intelligence or defense committee postings.
Energy or Interior would both be interesting cabinet choices, for which she's well qualified already, but I doubt any cabinet seat would give her the freedom she'd want to comment on a broad range of topics. And it would take a very self-confident GOP president to appoint her, frankly: He'd have to trust that she's not the "diva" that some of the more petty people in the McCain campaign have tried to paint her as. (I think in fact she was a good team player and has been remarkably loyal to McCain — more loyal than he deserves, frankly.)
(5) DRJ made the following comment | Oct 6, 2011 1:48:27 PM | Permalink
I agree with you that Palin needs legislative experience and I'd especially like to see her in the Senate, but I'd also like to see her as head of the EPA. Conservatives care about the environment but don't want to needlessly hurt business in the process. Palin comes from a breathtakingly beautiful energy state. Couple that with her independent streak and she might be one of the few people who could find a good balance between energy and the environment.
(6) Milhouse made the following comment | Oct 6, 2011 2:55:57 PM | Permalink
No, the EPA job should go to someone with a strong science background, who is able and willing to defend himself from the inevitable press attacks by exposing the journalists who attack him as the ignoramuses that they are. Someone with a head for facts and figures, detail-oriented, preferably with as long a set of credentials as one can find, because that sort of thing impresses and awes the credential-worshiping left. Preferably not a consensus-builder; I'd want to send in someone as confrontational as possible, a scientific John Bolton, and I'd measure his effectiveness by how many of the EPA's permanent staff he can provoke into either resignation or outright insubordination for which they can be fired.
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